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'The Strangers' Director Bryan Bertino to Answer 'Mockingbird' Call

The filmmaker who scored a surprise hit with the 2008 horror film returns as writer and director of a found-footage thriller.

Bryan Bertino, director of the surprise 2008 hit The Strangers, is set to direct Universal Pictures' Mockingbird, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. A found-footage project he wrote for Universal Pictures, Bertino is collaborating with Paranormal Activity producer Jason Blum, although no roles in the film are yet cast.

As first reported by Shock Till You Drop, the plot follows a couple who receives a video camera and a document containing specific instructions, which if they are not followed will result in someone’s death. It remains to be seen exactly how the film will document a pair of amateur filmmakers as they receive the camera and instructions.

Bertino scored a major hit during the summer of 2008 with The Strangers, a chilling home invasion story starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman which he both wrote and directed. That film’s sequel continues to languish in development as Bertino has tried to get other projects underway, including the thriller This Man for Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures, as well as Plastic Jesus, which is currently in post-production.